


Don't fall in love with idiots

by Space_Sapphik



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay, I dunno how to tag this, I guess it depends on how you read the show, Johnlock - Freeform, M/M, Sadly, Slow Burn, are also there, but they are all dicks, if i can be bothered, is there straight people?, it should be a slow burn at least, major character death i guess, maybe I haven't decided yet, maybe domestic abuse, mystrade, probably domestic emotional abuse, probably not any smut, tbh why am I allowed to write, technically, they turn up, this could technically happen, this is really gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-22
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-08-27 15:05:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16704805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Space_Sapphik/pseuds/Space_Sapphik
Summary: I dunno a kinda weird ass fanfiction that I have decided to write because I should be doing homework.





	1. Love me in Whatever Way

**Author's Note:**

> Love me in whatever way  
> (I can't give up, not now, not then)  
> \- love me in whatever way, James Blake

Greg looked at his small desk clock, it was only a few minutes now until he could go home. He had organised to go home early that afternoon to surprise his wife. It had been a few months since he had started his new job and he had been having trouble getting home on time. His promotion had come with a large amount of increased responsibility. Greg watched as the hands of the clock ticked by slowly. He was going to go to the nice little flower shop near their house on the way home and pick up some flowers for Chelsea. It was really unfair that he was never there for her. Their son had recently left home and was off in the world doing his own thing and Greg often felt guilty for leaving Chelsea alone with their younger daughter. The clock finally ticked over to his time for early leave. Greg rose from his seat picking up his bag and pushing his chair in. He left the office briskly.  
The air outside was slowly cooling and Greg called a cab. He asked to be dropped off at the florist and walked in with a smile to the people who owned the business. Greg often went into the shop when he was feeling especially guilty for spending too much time at work. He browsed the sweet-smelling buds running his hands over the soft petals.  
The shop owner watched him, she knew well that Greg was likely spending too much time at work for his wife’s liking. She often thought that if Greg was her husband she would never complain one bit. She watched as he picked out a small bundle of assorted flowers. They were soft colours, gentle but beautiful. Greg really had an eye for flowers. The florist looked at him wondering what on earth he did for a living, she never really got to know him, only what he was likely to tell his florist and few people shared much with her.  
Greg placed the flowers on the counter and smiled at the woman. They exchanged a few casual words and Greg paid for the flowers. He left quickly feeling rather like the florist had been flirting with him, she had.  
Greg’s house was only a few blocks away and he reached it quickly. Greg’s daughter was out for the night, staying with one of her school friends, Greg had planned it all.  
He walked up to his front door fumbling slightly with the cold metal of his key. He turned the handle and walked into the darkened house.  
“Honey, I’m home,” He called into the space, he stayed quiet for a moment when the sound floated to his ears. It was a sound that he was far too accustomed to hearing coming from their bedroom. The creaking of their bed and the grunts and moans of his wife and what sounded like a man with a heavy smoking problem.  
Greg dropped his bag to the floor retaining the flowers in his hand. He slowly made his way to their bedroom door, wondering if this would finally be the time when he would have the courage to kick his wife out of the house. Greg reached out and turned the bedroom door handle pushing it in slowly, he was greeted with exactly the sight he expected to see. His wife was laying on her back on their bed, under another man. This was not an uncommon sight in their house and Greg was not surprised in the slightest.  
“Chelsea,” Greg said into the room and his wife looked up shoving her bedmate. That was when Greg recognised the man, it was Lucy’s PE teacher. Greg looked at the ground as the man stood up, exposing far more than needed to be exposed.  
“I am going to leave,” The man pulled on the scattered clothes in the room and walked out while Greg and Chelsea stayed silent.  
Greg wasn’t angry, this was the fourth time this had happened he was over angry. He stared at his wife with a look that he knew she would take as a weakness and use to manipulate him. Greg was used to it. The woman looked at him, with the same face she had every time he found her in bed with someone he didn’t know.  
“Greg, you were never home and I know that you were stressed at work, I just thought that maybe it would be easier for you if you didn’t need to be my partner and cater to my needs. Oh, are those flowers?” Chelsea was distracted by the bouquet hanging in Greg’s hand. He held them out to her. “I accept your apology Greg,” Chelsea said as she took the flowers.  
Greg knew that he really should be the one apologising. He had been at work for a long time, it was only natural that Chelsea would have strayed from him in that time.  
“I’m sorry love,” Greg replied handing over the flowers and turning.  
“Okay I accept the apology,” Chelsea said sounding exasperated.  
“Look, Chelsea, if this isn’t working, maybe we should call it off, if you aren’t getting what you need,” Greg stopped unsure of how to continue.  
“You know that we can’t do that, how would if effect Lucy she is still so young, you know how impressionable young girls are, what do you think she would think if her parent's relationship broke up now. She may never find love,” This was always Chelsea’s reasoning, she had always been a mother before anything else and she cared for her children more than anything else.  
“I suppose you’re right, do you have plans for her eighth birthday, I wanted to get her that new bike she’s been asking for,’ Greg changed the subject knowing that he would get nowhere fast with it. Lucy had been begging for a new bike as she was growing out of her old one. Her mother always said that it was too masculine of a pursuit, she was always trying to steer Lucy towards more feminine paths. Always giving her makeup and dresses when Lucy only wanted a bike, and to go hang out with her friends. She wasn’t exactly a tomboy, but she most definitely was not feminine. She was a brilliant little kid and Greg loved her more than anything else in his entire life. He always felt awful because he could never be home for her, he was sure that Chelsea must see a side to Lucy that he didn’t get to see.  
“Yes Greg I do have plans, I am taking her shopping with her friends, and no you cannot buy her a bike she is getting too old for that sort of thing, she is interested in makeup and fashion now,” Chelsea told him with a face that said that he wasn’t allowed to argue or to say anything back to her.  
“Oh okay then, I will get her something else then,” Greg shrugged.  
“Look, Greg, I’m going out with friends tonight, I probably won’t be back until after work tomorrow can you pick Lucy up and take her to school tomorrow?” Chelsea asked as she pulled on a tight short dress and picked up a small handbag.  
“Yeah, of course, I can,” Greg replied as his wife walked briskly from the room.  
She knew exactly how to wrap him around her pinky. This was always what she had wanted, a nuclear family, one where everything was perfect and she could use her husbands money all she wanted. He didn’t earn all that much but it was okay. She had a job of her own, she earned a pretty sizeable income as well, she was a high up secretary at one of the nearby corporations in the city. She kept all of that money for herself, plus she used her husband's money. She had been working for them for a long time and was only one promotion away from managing the P.As at the corporation. She was expecting the promotion soon and she was ready to get her paycheck rise.  
Greg smiled at her as she left, he loved her, she was a good woman. Greg had always wondered how he had managed to attract such an incredible woman, being the person he was, but he decided that he needn’t look too deep into it.  
That evening Greg just had some cold pizza from a few nights before and went straight to bed. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do.


	2. Staying Together For The Kids

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rather than fix the problems  
> They never solve them  
> It makes no sense at all  
> I see them every day  
> We get along, so why can't they?  
> If this is what he wants  
> And this is what she wants  
> Then why is there so much pain?  
> \- Staying Together for the Kids, blink-182

Greg woke early the next morning. He needed to pick up his daughter. He stared at himself in the mirror, he was never really sure what this accomplished but it made him feel better. Greg pulled on his work clothes and brushed his dark hair back from his messy bed hair. He spent the majority of his time making a lunch for his daughter for while she was at school. He grabbed a piece of toast on his way out and jumped into his car. Lucy had school clothes and the like at her friend's house so all he needed was her lunch. Greg drove through the streets of London to another small house where Lucy’s friend lived. The two girls attended different schools, they had become friends in kindergarten.

Greg walked up the path and knocked on the door waiting politely for the mother to open it.

“Hello, Greg she is just getting dressed she will be out in a moment,” The woman started as Lucy came around the corner fully dressed with her school bag over her shoulder.

“Dad hey!” She called to him smiling.

“Hey Lucy darling, do you want to go and say goodbye to Alice, we have to get to school kiddo,” He smiled at his daughter as she excitedly skipped off to bid her friend farewell.

“The wife deploy you?” Alice’s mum Alex asked leaning against the door frame. Alex was one of Greg’s only friends, she was the only one who knew about the cheating, she never really liked Chelsea and had been friends with Greg since school anyway. Alex had left her husband years ago when he cheated on her with some younger woman from his work and she hadn’t dated since. He admired her for that.

“Yeah, she went out with some friends last night, I found her in a rather compromising situation last night,” Greg shrugged not particularly wanting to tell Alex but trusting her more than he trusted anyone else.

“Greg darling you need to leave her,” She looked so sad for him.

“She loves me, Alex, she just isn’t good at showing it,”

“I am coming to your work on your lunch break and we are talking about this, but now I believe that Lucy has to get to school,” The woman abruptly changed the topic and the little dark-haired girl came around the corner standing next to Alice and laughing with her about something that Greg didn’t understand.

“Let’s go, dad,” Lucy said in the way that only children can.

“Okay sweetie,” Lucy skipped out of the front door waving to Alice.

“By Lucy,” Alex called out to the little girl. Lucy stopped in her track suddenly remembering her manners and running back to the door to hug Alex and thank her for having her over.

Greg and Lucy made their way to Greg’s car and piled in. Lucy had recently been allowed to sit in the front seat and she relished in the maturity.

“Dad, did you remember to pack my lunch?” Lucy asked looking through her school bag.

“Yes darling it’s on the back seat,” Lucy leaned over into the back seat, twisting herself when she learned that her arms were far too short and pulling the small plastic lunchbox towards her. She opened the lid and squealed “Dad can I have it now,” Greg had packed her some of her favourite things. Greg knew that he would probably get in trouble with his wife for giving her ‘things that would make her fat’, but Greg was fairly positive that giving their daughter some crisps while she was at school wasn’t going to hurt her. Besides she was one of the most active kids that Greg had ever known. She genuinely enjoyed just doing things, she didn’t like running, but she would cycle for days if she was allowed to.

“Sweetheart you need to save it for school, I don’t want you to go hungry,” He reached across and messed up her hair. Chelsea made her keep it long but Lucy had been asking to get it cut short for ages now.

“Fine, why isn’t mum picking me up?” The girl asked running her hands through her hair to flatten it back.

“She went out with friends last night and just went straight to work, you know that she likes to have sleepovers lots,” Greg tried to make it sound the least like Chelsea was out partying without outright lying to his daughter.

“Oh okay then,” Lucy looked a little sad.

“Hey I brought you a hair tie, I thought you might not have one,” Greg passed his daughter a black hair tie and watched the smile spread across her face.

“Thanks, dad, now I can play with my friends properly, mum says that a lady shouldn’t do anything that messes up her hair, but I don’t care about that stuff, being a lady is dumb,” Lucy pulled her hair back into a ponytail that would keep all of her hair out of her face.

“I know sweetheart, I will see you tonight,” Greg said as they pulled up to Lucy’s primary school.

“Are you going to pick me up after school?” Lucy asked looking hopeful.

“I don’t know if I can darling a lot is going on at work, but your mum will be able to pick you up,” Greg smiled.

“Oh, okay, I will see you at dinner then,” Lucy looked sad, disappointed even, Greg felt his heart go cold he never wanted to disappoint his daughter.

The look on his little girls face cemented his decision, he couldn’t leave her mum. He could never make his daughter sad on purpose. He drove away towards Scotland Yard.

~~~~~~~~

When he got to his office he let himself relax for a moment. It had been a long night. What was he supposed to do in this situation? How are you supposed to react when your significant other cheats for the fourth time. Greg ran his hands through his hair, he was sure that this would turn him grey. 

If his home life wasn't hectic enough, Greg was absolutely bogged down by work. A particularly difficult triple homicide had been brought across his desk. No evidence. No likelihood of solving the case and a weeping family waiting for a suspect. Greg reached for the folder sitting on his desk, it contained more nothing than Greg had ever seen in a case before. 

"Hey Greg, some nutter is demanding to see you," Donovan leaned on the door frame with an exasperated look on her face.

"Who is he?" Greg asked he was not in the mood to be antagonised by some idiot off the streets.

"I dunno but he has some government bloke with him," Sally shrugged, she had evidently been sent to inform him of the visit not to ask his permission.

"Okay then," Greg was tired he did not want to deal with some government official nosing around while he was trying to solve the case.

“Good morning, Detective Lestrade,” A smooth pompous voice accompanied a man with auburn hair, accompanied by a taller slim man looking at the floor.  
“Um, hello, who are you?” Greg asked leaning back from the manilla file. The government was either about to take over the case with this sultry teenager of a man and his auburn haired boss.  
“My name is not important, this is Sherlock Holmes, he is here to help with your case,” The shorter man pushed the taller one forwards. 

“Hi,” The man crossed his arms over his chest.

“Hello, Sherlock? I’m Greg,” Greg watched as the man was driven towards a seat across from him.   
“Hi Garry,” The man spat, “How is your wife? What is it four times now?”

“How did you know that? You know what it doesn’t matter,” Greg turned his attention to the shorter man, “May I see your credentials?” 

“Yes of course,” The shorter man pushed a card towards Greg, it was a badge he had never seen before, or at least not in real life. It had been on one slide show at the academy, if seen you were to follow all instructions of the card holder without questions.

“Yes sir,” Greg nodded. 

“Now I need to speak with you before we proceed, where is your room?” the man evidently was aware of his training.

“Oh that room, yeah okay,” Greg led the way out of his office to the only room in the building without surveillance. 

“I need you to keep an eye on him for me,” The man said gesturing to the main office, evidently referring to the grumpy man he had brought in. 

“Okay,” Greg knew better than to ask questions, especially in his position.

“Any use of drugs, anything that you learn I would like to know, I will be able to make it worth your while if you would like,” the man paused for a second and appeared to compose himself. “I would be willing to pay for your divorce,”   
Greg’s heart dropped and he stared at the man in front of him. Greg felt tightness rise from his chest in to his throat. 

“I’m not getting a divorce,” 

“That is perfectly acceptable, however I am still willing to make some arrangements, make sure that you get the raise you deserve, nothing too suspicious,” 

“Sure,” Greg agreed, his wife was prone to taking his money, at least is he was making a little more it wouldn’t be as much of an issue. 

“Good, now I need to tell you about him,” the man launched into an overly long discussion of the man and told Greg far more than he had ever wanted to know about another human being. 

When Greg was finally released from the room and allowed to return to his office the Sherlock bloke was sulking in the chair he had sat in at first.

“Hello Gareth,” the man looked up as he came in.

“So you’re going to help me with my case? What is it that you do? Forensics?” he looked like one of the weirder forensic workers.

“No,” the man seemed to consider options before opening his mouth, “you have been a police officer since you were eighteen and signed up instead of going to university, you got married at twenty and have been in the same unhappy marriage since, two, no, one child, a daughter. You are staying with your wife for her, not something that I advise by the way. You considered the navy and the army before joining the police force. You are… bisexual probably but I would be surprised if you knew that so for the sake of argument let’s say heterosexual. You have one best friend, a woman, ex police officer, also has a daughter, your daughters friend. You’re wide doesn’t like her, maybe because she is a feminist, maybe because she is a stable force in your life. Your wife has cheated on you, two, no three times,” 

“Get out,” Greg pointed to the door and Sherlock didn’t move.

“You saw the badge I have to help you, you have to let me,”  
“This is only going to work if you stop making wild accusations about my life and we just get on,”   
“That’s fine, give me the case file, and you can go to lunch, I will have the case solved when you get back,” Sherlock looked at him with confusion when he didn’t immediately move. The mysterious man had said that he was simply to entertain this strange man while he was there, with cases, that he was perfectly safe to leave alone. So Greg shrugged and stood, grabbing his coat and leaving the building ignoring Donovan’s questions about the weirdo in his office. 

The cafe across the street was warm and Alex had found a booth directly under a heater.

“Alex,” Greg greeted sitting across from her and sighing in relief at being out of the boxy grey NSY building.   
“Greg darling, how are you?” She asked before she was interrupted by a waiter coming over to take their orders. Greg got what he always did at that cafe, a salad and cheese sandwich and the strongest coffee they had. Alex got a different sandwich and some weird tea Greg had never heard of. “How is your day Greg?”

“It’s fine,” Greg contemplated telling her about the man in his office and decided that he had never been told to keep this a secret and some level of discretion could be afforded but not complete silence. “A man came in, I think he was from the government, he dropped off some guy to help with my cases. Weirdest two men I’ve ever met,” 

“That is really weird,”   
“It’s fine, I’m getting a raise for it and the man seems smart enough,”   
“What about your wife Greg,”   
“What about her? She hasn’t spoken to me all day and she cheated on me again,”   
Greg sighed hanging his head and staring at the grained wood on the table. The waiter brought their food over and smiled apologetically at the pair. 

“Greg, I know this is hard, but can you speak to her? I don’t know maybe ask her to stop cheating on you,” 

“No, you know I can’t she’s insane,” 

“I know, I’m sorry,” 

“He knew,”   
“What?”   
“The government man, he knew about her, he knew she cheated, he knew I was contemplating divorce,” Greg took a sip of his overly hot coffee and let the liquid burn his throat slightly.

“How?” 

“I don’t know, he offered to pay for the divorce,”   
“Greg that sounds seriously illegal,” Alex lent her elbow on the table and looked concerned.  
“I know but no questions,” Greg shrugged, he didn’t mind too much, of course he was under surveillance, he didn’t mind too much.

The rest of their lunch went the same way, they talked and got concerned about the other. Then they spoke about their children. Greg had to cut the lunch short after an hour and fifteen, he was already running over time. They said their goodbye’s and Greg promised to talk to her again.

When Greg returned to his office Sherlock was no where to be seen, there was however a note on his desk on top of the case file.

‘It was the brother, I have gone to get evidence but you will find some in this - SH’ Greg flicked through the file. There was a great number of circles and notes. The brother did appear to have killed his sister, he had been in love with her girlfriend and had murdered his sister in order to get to her. There was evidence all over the place, scuffs and text message chains, just not quiet enough to prosecute him. 

Greg started to write up the report, around two o’clock Sherlock returned.

“I found the evidence,” Sherlock held up a notebook and a sack. “It was in the bin out the front of his house, notebook details the murder, this is the knife he used, you are useless,” Sherlock dropped the things and left.

“Fuck,” Greg finished the rest of his paper work in only an hour, or at least as much as he was going to do that day, once this was all properly filed he could get a warrant for the man’s arrest, but that wouldn’t come through until the next day, not for a homicide like this. So Greg sent it off to be processed and left the office early. 

He texted his wife to tell her that he would pick up Lucy from school and drove off to get her. 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not even sure what I'm doing, I guess just deal with it or something? Also yes I am doing the super cringy thing of naming the chapters after songs, I am depressed and can't think of chapter titles.


End file.
